"I can remember sitting behind a great big desk at the age of eight, watching my dad wheel and deal with the salesman from a large appliance corporation. My father bought half a trailer load of new refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, and laundry appliances. Not only was I intrigued, I was inspired and motivated to have my own business.

Business ownership ran deep within the Belgrove family. My great, great, great aunt migrated from Barbados to Trinidad in the 1800's and became one of the first female owners of the Belgrove Funeral parlor; a business which is still around today. My father also owned a few businesses in Trinidad before moving to New York, to start his appliance business in the late 60's. Because of his success I too would be an entrepreneur.

I always knew I wanted to run my own business. At the age of 12, I was setting up accounts receivable systems, doing inventory, and helping my Dad train the new secretaries. At 14 I was running the business by myself; and supervising seven employees whenever my father was out of the country on vacation.

I graduated from high school at the age of 16 with a major in accounting. Success in corporate America came fairly easy for me. When I graduated from college with a BBA in accounting, I took an internship with Transamerica Leasing. Two years later, I was working directly for the CFO on special projects and traveling around the world giving presentations to international employees.

My corporate experiences enabled me to be an great sales person, auditor, an investment analyst, as well as a finance and pension manager and gave me the necessary knowledge and confidence to leave corporate America.

My father fell ill unexpectedly in 19xx. I had to leave work early one day and take over the family business. It turned out to be an 8-month ordeal. I was 24 and working full time for Chase Bank during the day and then running the business at night and on weekends. (Thank God I had a good support staff). My success during this period of time proved I had what it took to run a business.

I increased sales, found new customers, and got rid of a ton of debt.

Upon my father's recovery and return to work, he insisted that I continue my career in corporate America. It was good that I did because I received extensive sales, financial analysis, investment, and other experience by working for top rate major corporations like JP Morgan Chase, GE Capital, Savin Corporation, and Goya Foods, Inc.

Goya Foods, Inc. was a family company and their success inspired me to continue what my father had started, just as they had done with the business their grandfather created more than six decades ago.

Since I knew all aspects of the business side of the appliance industry; in June 2000, five months after my father passed away, I started my own appliance company, Belgrove Appliance, Inc. Aside from managing the business and focusing on creating new sales, I began focusing on appliance repair. I knew my father specialized in repairing Crown stoves and Defiance refrigerators, and I took a liking to them as well.

I took a commercial appliance repair course and completed a more extensive home appliance repair correspondence course. I received extensive mentorship and training from other business owners on appliance repair and specialized stove restoration techniques.

Before I knew it, I was repairing stoves, washers, dryers, refrigerators, air conditioners, and dishwashers. Once experienced, I began doing all of the service calls without hiring outside contractors for assistance. Even though I repair almost every major appliance, stoves will always be my favorite to repair and restore.

Always looking to assist my customers in any way possible, I offered to clean a stove for a busy housewife after I had finished repairing it. She agreed and a whole new market opened up for me. Who better to dismantle and safely clean a gas stove than a stove repair person?

My customers are receiving a full scale of services (more than my father ever dreamed of offering). And I am dedicated to providing the integrity, reliability, and honesty that the industry so desperately needs. I plan to grow the business by leaps and bounds, but I want the growth to be carefully planned and implemented because my customers should continue to receive the high level of service and specialized, individual attention that they have grown accustomed to."

Carlita Belgrove, The Stove Lady